When Vajrayana teachers point out the importance of Guru Yoga and View, these teachings arise from their clear understanding of the nature of samsara. The nature of how we, ordinary beings, are seduced by our habits of mind, how we are each ensnared in our own dream, unable to recognize the truth, ceaselessly creating our own world of suffering. The teachers see this clearly, while we ordinary beings, for the most part, are totally clueless. We fall for the deception so completely we mistake our habitual concepts for “reality.”
Even in our ordinary perceptions we rarely perceive what is actually happening. In a recent teaching on twitter Jetsunma points this out:
“Even scientists find that once we have seen an object with our eyes, the brain files it away. When we ‘see’ it again we actually fill in, once we ‘decide’ what it is, almost all the detail from memory. We may, in fact, never see the same object twice. Once we identify we fill in the actual ‘seeing’ with our own habitual thinking.” – Waking from the Dream
It takes courage to face this within ourselves, to accept that maybe we really don’t have all the answers, or worse, that maybe we don’t even know how to find them. However, if we, as students on the Vajrayana path, are tempted to deceive ourselves into thinking we can “teach ourselves” the Dharma because sublime and profound teachings have been published in books, we run the risk of “filling in the actual ‘seeing’ with our own habitual thinking.” An example would be the famous Rorschach Inkblot Test, where psychoanalysts have patients report what they see in a series of inkblots. If we were able to perceive what was actually there this test would be useless, everyone would see the same thing, everyone would agree on the meaning. But this is not the case. Simply because something has been printed in words, does not mean we can arrive at a true understanding, even if we agree on the words. The inkblots don’t change from person to person, but the interpretation does.
Yeshe Tsogyal lamented as Guru Rinpoche was leaving Tibet:
“The luckless Tibetans have lost their eyes.
Now who will lead us when we are blind and alone?
Now we can only guess as to the nature of things;
now we must look to books for teachings…
now a grievous time has come!”
From “Mother of Knowledge: The Enlightenment of Ye-shes mTsho-rgyal” by Nam-mkha’I snying-po translated by Tarthang Tulku
Yeshe Tsogyal was already accomplished at the time she called out to Guru Rinpoche, yet she, like all Vajrayana teachers, never ceased to cherish the Root Guru above all else.
If we are sincere in our aspiration to cross the ocean of suffering that is samsara, to attain Enlightenment in order to be of true benefit to beings, we must swallow the bitter pill of acknowledging we don’t know how, that we don’t even have a clue as to how, and learn to rely on a captain that has navigated this ocean many times.
We have the extraordinary fortune to have a teacher such as Jetsunma available to us right here, right now. When she teaches on the supreme importance of the Guru it isn’t for any other purpose than to help us discern the difference between sublime Wisdom, and our ordinary understanding, to guide us to the truth.
For those who visit this blog, or follow her on twitter, you know that Jetsunma offers kindness and practical guidance to everyone, whether you wish to become a serious student of Vajrayana or you just want to understand how to live a happier life. It is my hope in writing this post, however, that if you are serious about the Vajrayana path, that you may gain confidence that Jetsunma is able to nourish everyone, at every level, up to the most sublime.
Whether it is Jetsunma or some other qualified teacher, may you find your true and unwavering guide.
May any merit or virtue generated by this effort be devoted to the liberation of every being lost in confusion.
Ani Sonam
